Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are warning that President Donald Trump’s tariff-heavy trade agenda is quickly starting to resemble a “corrupt scheme to enrich administration officials and those loyal to them.”
The Trump administration’s tumultuous rollout of a spate of new tariffs is “rife with opportunities to unduly influence President Trump and other administration officials,” the Democrats wrote in a letter shared first with CNBC on Thursday.
The letter, signed by 47 House and Senate members, asks Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to detail the administration’s “plans to prevent the misuse of tariffs for self-dealing.”
The effort was led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Reps. Judy Chu and Linda Sánchez of California. Other signatories include Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, California’s Jared Huffman and Al Green of Texas. Sanders is a registered independent who caucuses with Democrats.
As the minority party in both chambers of Congress, Democrats cannot call hearings or issue subpoenas, limiting their ability to compel a reply from the Trump administration. But the letter nevertheless illustrates how they are homing in on Trump’s handling of the economy as they mount their resistance to his second term.
They argue in the letter that Trump’s use of tariffs during his first term as president showed his willingness to wield import taxes as a tool for him to reward his political friends and punish his foes.
“We fear the administration is once again turning its tariffs policy into an underground market of exemptions in exchange for financial and political favors,” the letter reads.
They point to the recent decision to exempt smartphones and other electronics from his so-called reciprocal tariffs. News of that exemption boosted the stock price of companies such as Apple, whose CEO, Tim Cook, “has cultivated his relationship with the President in recent months,” the letter notes.
The Democrats also allege Trump’s tariffs “are inviting corruption not only through quid-pro-quo arrangements but also through officials’ personal investments” because his frequently changing trade policy “opens the door to rampant insider trading.”
Their letter seeks answers from Lutnick, Bessent and Greer by April 29 on how the administration will handle possible tariff exemptions.